While there are some choices here I may not personally agree with, it's really refreshing to see a ranking of Castlevanias that isn't the same old rundown you can find all over the internet. And as always your criticism is thoughtful and interesting. Great video!
Oh thank you so much! I don't imagine most people will love the ranking, but I did really enjoy playing through all of these games and am always happy to share my thoughts on video games.
something so special about this genre, the 'western horror via japan' aesthetic is just impossible not to love. the style of it, the repeated memes, the tendency to throw a couple youkai in there to see if we'll notice... and the gleeful tendency to just give monsters whatever powers would look cool on them, regardless of really being on theme.
Its partially also influenced by Dario Argento, italian horror director. Japan loved him. Until dvd era only place to get uncensored home releases of his movies(laserdisc only) The ost is heavily influenced by Goblin who did the ost for most Argento movies. Its more audible by IV and Rondo compared to earlier games
I’m really impressed you made it through all these games, especially CV3. I just cannot beat it - it’s interesting you call yourself a “casual” gamer, but have skills far greater than most of us.
@@DonnyKirkMusic this was pretty common practice for US releases of japanese games in the late 80s/early 90s. they cranked the difficulty because, while game rentals had been made illegal in japan, they were extremely popular in america still. they figured if little timmy couldn't beat it in his blockbuster weekend, he'd end up begging his parents for it. edit: in japan, konami's license as a publisher with nintnedo also allowed them to make custom mapper chips for their games, which the JP release of CV3 used for the soundtrack. the US version sounds great but the japanese version sounds incredible
I play games very regularly, but I'm not at all competitive about them. I will grind out a game to finish it and try my best to get good at it, but I really need to work at it to get through. I know people who can pick up games and crush them in a much faster time than I could ever dream of doing it. I definitely don't think I'm a bad gamer by any stretch, just not as skilled as other people!
This is nice to hear! I love how Dr. Social has to crouch to get into the wall to get his juice out too! And thank YOU for taking the time to watch! I appreciate it :)
Glad you gave dracula X a fair shake, as that was probably the first speedrun I put a good amount of effort into. And yeah if you dont fall into the pit, you can get a key in a candle to use for a different path, play different levels and get different bosses. Additionally there are 2 characters you can save which san slightly change the credits screen.
I had no problem with Dracula X until the final boss. I thought it was fun! It's cool that you got into speedrunning that game. I haven't seen any Dracula X speedruns before, but I've watched quite a bit of Castlevania 1. And thanks for the info about the alternative paths! I wasn't sure on the details, but it's nice to know that I can try again sometime and see some new things!
A lot of people give SNES Drac X flack, some for the maddening final battle, others just don't like the game because it wasn't Castlevania 4, the freedom of whip swinging and dangling the whip was lost, but to me that returned the challenge of what SCV 4 lacked, I could literally 2 loop SCV 4 in 1 life, by the third loop I'd get bored and shut the game off, and used to consistently be able to do it.
@@bobslobbins2864 Most people back when it was relevant had never played or heard of Rondo. I rented Dracula X from Blockbuster and liked it well enough.
It was great getting a look at all these from the perspective of someone free of nostalgia; thanks for putting it together! I feel like I would have the same exact order except I’d put super castlevania as number one and Simon’s quest as two :)
I'm so excited that you released this! Just earlier today I finished my own personal journey to play as many Castlevania games as I could get my hands on. Not surprised Simon's Quest is your favorite, given how much you like Faxanadu :) My personal favorite was Rondo of Blood
I started playing these games in 2018 and played them sporadically over the next few years. I'm glad to finally get this video together! Rondo of Blood is a fabulous game and I can totally understand why it's your favourite! It was tough for me though!
If you ever play the 6800 game, the PS1's extra mode is a bit easier on top of the new character sprite. I'm really curious about your thoughts on the 8-bit style Bloodstained games and Rogue Legacy titles, since they don't shy away from their influences.
@@hungrygoriya KIP Castlevania Adventure was the first mobile version ever and the only mobile version at the time, without any backlight, color, save ability and a 2inch screen. I think you need to judge in the context of how you were able to play them at the time, and being able to get a littler further in Castlevania on the go before the yellow bus got to school every morning was incredible. It took a long time to finally master a 24 minute completion while on the move.
I wanted to comment on this so much sooner - watched this late last night and was SO DELIGHTED to see someone like me who prefers Castlevania II Simon’s Quest over it’s 8 bit brothers. I was also thrilled to hear someone take Dracula’s Curse to task as it deserves; it is universally praised, but you stated it so perfectly in that the game’s difficulty pushes you away instead of drawing you in due to it’s demand for perfection over determination. It’s a very good game but isn’t nearly as engaging and inviting as Simon’s Quest armed with a Nintendo Power. One of the freshest and fairest takes on the early entries of this awesome series and I am thrilled to enjoy this video!! Happy Halloween!!!
I'm so glad you like Simon's Quest too! Castlevania 3 was good in principle, but in practice, it really put me right up against the edge of my patience threshold. I think if I ever try it again, I'll opt for the Famicom version which I've heard has been rebalanced a bit. And thank you very much for your kind words. This video's just a bunch of my honest opinions after experiencing many of these games for the first time as an adult. I'm glad they're pleasant ones to listen to and commiserate with! Happy Halloween to you too!
Bizarre take. X, 1, 3, and 4 are just untouchable. I can’t imagine preferring Simon’s Quest the best. It was fun but I found it nigh impossible with a guide. Not even for the AVGN moments but abt 2 others. The map has 2 or 3 screens that look the same but are junctions to branch off to different towns and areas. Poor final boss fight too. Very odd game, but fun
although i haven’t watched the video yet, i’ve always wanted a video just ranking the original games, but none ever existed so im eternally happy this is a real video now.
Really great video! Couple of years ago I finally found Zelda II for $20 and they also had C2 for $20 and C3 for $25 and I only had enough money for one. I went with C2 because I thought it was considered the better game and it was $5 cheaper. I thought I screwed up and regretted not getting C3! After seeing this vid I now feel good about my choice. Most people think Zelda 2 is the worst game but it’s my favourite out of all of them. I think C2 is a lot like that. And I’m not even crazy about rpgs Plus I’ve got the 8bit Blood Moon game on Xbone that’s sorta a rip off of C3 so that was my experience playing C3 and I really enjoyed it. Only C game I ever beat and overall enjoyed. Would love to hear your opinion on Bloodmoon, specifically the 8bit one. Keep up the great work! I don’t have the patience to beat these games so major props
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! In my opinion, Simon's Quest is a way better choice than Dracula's Curse, but I also found Dracula's Curse to be way too difficult to be fun. Simon's Quest is pretty similar to lots of the roots of Zelda II anyway, and it's a lot like other awesome games like Faxanadu or The Battle of Olympus. It's a bit cryptic on occasion, but I love how it plays. For what it's worth, I like Zelda II a lot! You're not alone! I'll have to look into Blood Moon sometime and see what it's all about. There are so many "blood" games that they all just kinda lump together in my mind.
I was hoping you'd talk about MS's version of Castlevania ☺️ What a fun one! Dr Social may not be Trevor or a Simon but a more than worthy mention when discussing these games.
I was listening to the soundtracks to these games again (including your distorted version of Castlevania III), and I found that the Famicom version of Castlevania III had enhanced music via an extra audio chip called the VRC6. If you compare it to the soundtrack for the North American release, the Japanese version sounds a lot better.
SPOILERS I remember you mentioning being a fan of Simon's Quest, but I was still a little surprised to see it at no. 1! It's my favorite classic Castlevania too, for similar reasons, and it's refreshing to see a video from someone who really appreciates it. While I understand why people don't like the false hints, I think it adds to the atmosphere a lot. To me it feels like the effect of Dracula's curse, messing with the people and making them say crazy nonsense. And it makes me feel like Simon is alone even in a city full of people, which seems appropriate given his circumstances.
It's definitely my favourite, hands down and no contest. It's got so much cool stuff going for it and was definitely the best at being an immersive experience. The others are cool too, but Simon's Quest really grabbed me! I have an entire review dedicated to just that one game deep in my channel history if you want to hear more from me about it. Glad to know someone else that adores it too!
@@hungrygoriya I love the entire series dearly and I play as many as I can around this time of year, but none mean as much to me as CV2. I have fond memories of getting unreasonably salty about "some angry nerd on youtube" who was talking crap about my beloved Simon's Quest lmao
I had to call Nintendo Power for the first time in my life to pass the Lake part!! The rest I figured out...once I knew ducking used the items!! lol We got this at release too. Man, I'm old!
@@will-love-lvx If it's any consolation to you, when I played through the game, my CRT cut off the little platform that you can see below the lake graphics and I had no idea there was anything down there. Some people in my stream chat asked me if I wanted a little nudge, which I took. It's not intuitive at all! It's cool that you got to call the hotline. I would've never been allowed to do that.
Fantastic and timely retrospective given the season. Simon's Quest is also my favorite. It was the first Castlevania game I played and it left an impression on me with its atmosphere and I loved the RPG and open world elements. I will often do a Simon's Quest play through during the Halloween season.
I was trying so hard to get this one finished before Halloween came and went, and I just squeaked by! I'm always glad to meet more people that like Simon's Quest. It deserves so much love and attention, far more than it gets. It's certainly not perfect, but it's immersive and is one of the deepest experiences in the series from these games I talked about here. I should really start doing a yearly playthrough of Simon's Quest. That's an excellent idea!
I'm glad to see another person who places Castlevania II at or near the top of their list. I rented it a lot as a kid in the late 80s but never actually owned it until my wife got me an NES Mini for my birthday in 2018 or 2019. The open world and the ability to explore Transylvania is what drew me to it over the other titles.
To me, it's undeniably one of the best with all it has on offer, even if it's a bit cryptic at times. Congratulations on the NES mini and having the opportunity to own a long-time favourite!
I've only played Aria of Sorrow from that bunch so far. I'm looking forward to playing the rest sometime. Maybe once I've gotten through them all, it'll be time for another video in 2028, haha
@@hungrygoriya I didn't discover any of them until 2021 and I've blown through all of em and a ton a fan made spin offs .. they are all unique.. I could literally write an essay about the coolness they all are.. same relative formula but each has its own thing .. circle of the moon (gba) is the hardest and order of Ecclesia (ds) is the most unorthodox but they are all still Metroid-vanias
I was told by a friend to kneel to the wall with the right crystal ball. Back in the days without internet, you had to explore for hours on end to figure stuff out. Loved Simon's quest. Great vid
I didn't own this one when I was a kid, but I remember wandering around quite a few games wondering how to progress like Faxanadu and The Legend of Zelda. I wish I'd had this one back then too.
I think it has a phenomenal soundtrack too. I'd listened to Castlevania music long before enjoying the games in the series (thank you, Vomitron) and I could not stop bopping along the entire time I played Simon's Quest.
I remember on my tier list (wish I could find it) ranking it as Good below Goat, Excellent, and Great tiers. It would be a B for a NES game as a Castlevania game a solid C. But my favorite was pretty low on this list being Castlevania III. EDIT but mine included all games except for the LOS series. So everything in this timeline.
Great stuff as always! Love seeing you challenge yourself with a long video. Hope to see more! I'm always impressed you manage to stick through the tough games. I loved C3 back in the day, mostly because you could change characters and play the levels differently (like the guy who could walk on the walls). I couldn't beat it though, never really got too close. For you to pick these up now days and get through them is most impressive to me.
Hey thanks! I think the only two on this list that I didn't finish were the two Game Boy games, but I completed everything else at least once. I'm glad you enjoyed the longer video! I'd love to make more of these, but I usually have to finish all the games first. And I'm pretty slow at making my way through most games! I appreciate the nice comment
A 40+ minute Halloween special. Oh boy! I've only played and finished 3 games in the series: Rondo, SOTN, Super Castlevania 4. All great, but Rondo I really loved
I hope you liked the video! Thanks so much for sharing your love of the series here. Rondo was awesome. I would love to go back and play it again sometime, or at least finish my playthrough with Maria!
Dracula's Curse really was an incredible game to round out the trilogy on the NES. It was one of those games I used to rent from the local rentin' place when I was a kid because I would think about how cool it was with the new characters and all. Then I'd get it back home and play for a few hours before probably throwing my controller in frustration/disgust. It was a very interesting choice for Konami to tweak the usual series' difficulty to make this game surprisingly impossible. (It's gotta be up t here with Battletoads as great games that have downright cruel difficulty)
It’s an amazing game. Once you finish it it gives a huge sense of satisfaction. Plus for me is the game with the more horror feel in the entire series. Playing it at night in total silence with the song “nightmare” gave me the chills.
I find it incredibly difficult as well, though I've heard the Famicom version's easier. I don't mind a hard game but I draw a line when things start to make me feel flustered and frustrated like CV3 did. There's so much more game to enjoy that I just can't bring myself to try.
@@dieinfire920 You actually finished it?! How in the goddamn hell did you pull that off, holy shit man. In that case I reckon I'll have to take your word on that feeling of huge satisfaction from accomplishing such a feat as talking to you right here will be the closest I'll ever personally get to it. Congrats tho, that's overcoming maybe the pinnacle of all the games that earned the reputation of being "NES hard".
@@hungrygoriya That'd be interesting if the Famicom got the easier version considering how it was often the opposite since the difficulty with some games got dialed back specifically to ship overseas. In any case, I'd say you mad the right call in not throwing yourself at the game repeatedly as one does when faced with that sort of ludicrous level of difficulty. Personally, I find that when I reach the point in the game where progression simply ceases altogether my fun experience becomes clouded with a weird sort of aggression. Things get personal between myself and the game, because, alas, quitting rarely occurred to me as being an option. Eventually, the frustration peaked and I'd just want to run toward the nearest living thing and kill it. So it's been awhile since I last played it lol. Seriously thought, it was an incredible game, but it can also go fuck itself.
@@johnnybensonitis7853 thanks. Back in the renting days I was able to finish it with Sypha and Alucard, and don’t remember if with grant too, but I was never been able to finish it with only Trevor (eventually did it once emulation era arrived, as I never had the game before, only rented it). Actually I think ninja gaiden 1 and Battletoads are more difficult than castlevania 3. Specially Battletoads.
The Gameboy version was epic for the times. I remember being 7 and playing it on the back of my brother's motorcycle as we traveled behind Mom and Dad as they towed the camper on summer vacation
Nice list! Castlevania II: Simon's Quest definitely was way ahead of its time in terms combining RPG elements wrapped in an action/adventure title. It was definitely one of the more challenging Castlevanias if you didn't know what to do or where to go. The good thing with all of these games is that there are some great game patches available that add many quality of life features. For example, there are some great patches for the Castlevania: The Adventure (and Belmont's Revenge) to make it much more playable by giving the Belmonts various improvements like a faster walking speed, more modern control scheme (being able to control him in mid-air), and even being allowed to keep your whip upgrades even after being hit. It greatly improves the experience even if the GameBoy titles aren't quite as good as their console counterparts.
I suppose I just got so engrossed in Simon's Quest and have played so many other games like it that it felt easier than some of the grindier games like CV3. I hear ya though... if you don't know where you're going or what to do, I can see it being a little bit long. I'm so glad that so many people have gone above and beyond to improve these games in meaningful ways. I've heard about a translation patch for Simon's Quest that really makes things a lot clearer about what to do, but it's cool to learn that the Game Boy games got the same treatment!
@@hungrygoriya I totally agree. I think Simon's Quest is definitely easier than something like Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (it has some really tough sections). Such is the way of some NES adventure games, I think I had to look up solutions to a few parts of Simon's Quest (such as the Red and Blue Crystals). It isn't a long game, so once you know what to do, it can definitely be a nice one to replay. I can definitely vouch for many of the Castlevania patches. Many patches definitely help to ease new players into the games. I think the GameBoy patches benefit those games the most as the vanilla games are way too sluggish and punishing for the average player.
I spent most of my childhood playing the three on the NES. Didn't play the others until later on but went from Dracula's Curse to Symphony of the Night. Also, my twin brother at one time held the world speed run records for Castlevania, Simon's Quest, and Dracula's Curse at one time or another.
Oh that's really cool that you have a former world record holder in your family! I love speedrunning and watching people breeze through these games. And neat that you got to try out Symphony of the Night. I played it a few years ago and really liked it! The NES games are my bread and butter though!
Your voice is very calming and listening to you talk about the great games from my childhood is an added bonus. Btw I feel you on C3…that game is infused with hatred lol.
Oh thanks so much! I'm pretty blessed in the voice department. I'm glad we're on the same page with Castlevania 3. I really want to like it because it has a lot of great things going for it in principle, but it's just so mean!
Excellent video! While I find fun in every single one of these games, I understand why The Adventure is at the bottom of the list, that sluggish feeling is awful to deal with but I do it because I can't help but love it lol Also I LOVE seeing 2 get so much love in this video!! That game gets WAY too much hate IMO so it's refreshing to see someone shower it with love 👍 Dropped you a sub and I hope you have an amazing Halloween! 🎃
I'm glad you're giving The Adventure a little bit of love. I haven't seen much positivity in the comments for it! Thanks so much for subscribing and for the kind words! I appreciate you stopping by. Wishing you a Happy Halloween!
Just let it all wash over you! I think I might like the Famicom version of CV3 a bit more. I've heard it's a bit more balanced in terms of its difficulty.
I knew Castlevania 2 would be at the top since you mentioned it in many videos but to see Master of Darkness as well is a joy, that game is so fantastic it could easily compete with the original Castlevania as one of the best side scrolling action games of that generation! :D
I'm a predictable person, no doubt about it! And it felt silly to leave Master of Darkness out of the discussion. It definitely deserves some love, and I hope some people are inclined to try it out sometime. It's great!
I'm not even finished with the video, but after seeing what game ranked as your third worst, I already know this is going to be an interesting video! I also like your narrations! Hello, from a first time viewer!
Thanks for stopping by the channel and checking out this video! I'm definitely someone who came to this series with a clean slate and enjoyed nearly every moment of playing through these games. And please don't get me wrong about number 3. I love a hard game, but that one's difficulty was just too much and I just ended up feeling frustrated. There's so much more there to enjoy, and I'm just so put off from trying it because I know that path's supposed to be even harder than the one I played.
I remember playing Castlevania on Halloween night back in 1987. I had swapped my RushN Attack with a friend to get to play this gem. I got all the way to the Grim Reaper but the game froze when I had him on the ropes. I waited for 30 minutes for it to "unfreeze" but it never did. I took it as a hint to enjoy the rest of the evening and watched a Harry Houdini special on TV with my brother.
Oh NO! I'm sorry your game froze up on you like that. The reaper's such a jerk in this game, and I've seen that freezing glitch happen to someone live before. It's so heartbreaking! I remember watching David Copperfield magic shows as a kid. I would've definitely been into that Harry Houdini special.
Simon's Quest has always been my favorite Castlevania game despite its flaws, and for that matter Zelda II has always been my favorite Zelda game (new or old in both cases, although I haven't played every one of them). Just putting that out there.
The original Castlevania is still my favourite, but I recently discovered Master of Darkness on SMS, and it’s Great! It has a creepy Hammer Horror feel thats different. It also has great music!
Thank you! I wish I could take credit for that idea, but it was all my husband's. He's always kind enough to help me set up the filming and brainstorm some neat ideas for the videos. I swear all of the best ideas come from him! I'll pass that along to him!
Very nostalgic for this series since the first. Simon’s quest been a personal favorite for the longest, always loved the adventure of it just wish there were more bosses in mansions. CV3 on famicom is supposed to be easier especially with grant and the music is slightly better. I just love all the games!
I'm glad to hear from you and a few others here about Simon's Quest being at the top! It's such a great game and I loved it so much. I think Castlevania 3 has a lot of great things going for it, but the difficulty's the only thing really barring me from enjoying it. Maybe I should try the Famicom version sometime just to experience more of it. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@hungrygoriya I loved CVII until iv came out I always wanted so much more I thought that graphical glitches were secrets lol love your reviews thanks for the reply! Happy Halloween
There is so much going on with the creepiness factor. It sounds all happy on the surface, but there's actually a lot of dissonance there too. And thank you so much!
I absolutely adore Aria as well, and I'm so glad the story goes the way it does! When I first played it, many moons ago, I was so excited towards the end of the game! Great memories.
Wow. Goriya, to cover all this Castlevania and make room for Kid Dracula and Master of Darkness is quite a feat. These games all took more lives from me than i want to think about. Aside from the original Rondo of Blood, I've attempted almost all of them. To say pit casualties suck is an understatement. Glad you brought attention to Master of Darkness. I salute your 8 and 16 bit courage.
i wanna love dracula’s curse so bad, the music and art is soooo good, the characters are so fun, but it’s SUCH a pain in the ass lol. also great video! id love to know what you think about the igavanias, i think portrait is one of the most underrated cvs, and has the most fun combat in the entire series :D
There's so much about Dracula's Curse that just feels trolly for the sake of being trolly. I love it in principle because it has the multiple paths, replay value, different characters... the makings of a great adventure! But it's cruelty is just unforgivable to me. For the exploration-based games in the series, I've only played Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow so far and enjoyed them both. I do hope to play more of them and maybe do a follow-up someday that tackles some of those titles.
I think it's pretty great! I just liked the games I put ahead of it as a complete package more than Rondo. I'd love to get back to it with no input lag and finish my playthrough with Maria someday.
I love Castlevania IV so much so I made a whole commentary on it, but I totally get why Simon's Quest ranks highest for you. Really fun rundown for Halloween!
Castlevania IV has so many good aspects to it. I really liked it! Simon's Quest is definitely my favourite and I don't know that anything will knock it off its pedestal in my books. There's something so nice about adventuring meaningfully in the Castlevania universe.
@@hungrygoriya There is a real charm to Simon's Quest. It's pacing is a little slow for my tastes, but I think its really important to commend the developer's ambition to try something new. To it's credit, Castlevania IV has the innovative 8 directional whip, and the feel of that is so good; I'd love to see another game done in that style.
I hope I can try that one out sometime. There's so much I still need to see in CV3 that I just can't bring myself to try with the North American release. I don't want to get angry playing games!
I think it's great and definitely manageable with some practice. It's the easiest to pick up and play through when I want a little bit of Castlevania, but don't feel like sitting through a huge game.
Great list! It's refreshing to see somewhat of a new ordering on a list like this! Castlevania 3 and Super Castlevania IV will always be my personal faves. Simon's Quest is good for a romp once a year or so. SoTN is a masterpiece in my eyes, to this day. I think Circle of the Moon is my favorite handheld Castlevania.
Thank you very much! In a way, I'm glad I ended up seeing these games a little differently than most because it has led to some really interesting conversations here over the past week or so! I can definitely see why people love Castlevania 3. I just wish it didn't make me feel so cranky! Maybe one day I'll try the Famicom version out since I've heard it's a bit easier. I'm a big fan of Symphony of the Night, but didn't feel right putting it on this list since it's so different from everything else. The other more long-form game I played was Aria of Sorrow, but I've yet to try Circle of the Moon. It's good to know that I have more great Castlevania to look forward to yet!
@@hungrygoriya Symphony of The Night deserves its own video! Also, you had me saying "What a terrible night to have a hallway" at your infamous-hallway section LOL. Keep up the awesome content!
I agree! The others are cool and have some neat branching paths/alternative characters, but Simon's Quest feels the most engaging and atmospheric to me.
I do hope to do a follow-up one of these days whenever I get through the rest of the exploration-based titles. So far I've only played Aria of Sorrow and Symphony of the Night.
Fantastic video HG! I always appreciate hearing your thoughts on this series, especially after having the opportunity to tag along with you on so many of these journeys through your streams of these games. Happy Halloween!
I saved the final half for today- pleasantly surprised to see Simon's Quest so high! I played it as a child (without the power of Nintendo power, RIP) and boy did it take me years. Those liars really got me, but I loved the music and gameplay so much. Thank you, always love your content and Happy Halloween! PS I saw you haven't played TMNT 1- would highly recommend. There's some light exploration and difficulty I think you might enjoy@@hungrygoriya
@@RealFerfer Glad you got through the rest of it, and thank you very much for taking the time. I know it's a long one! I do intend to try TMNT 1 one of these days. It definitely seems like something I'd enjoy even if it's really tough (from what I've heard about it, anyway!)
Awww thank you so much! I'm definitely not a competitive player or anything. Far from being a speedrunner or racer! I take my times wandering through games and savour them.
I really enjoyed seeing your thoughts on castlevania games from worst to best, but for me i like Bloodline the most imo Mostly for having some nice design on the levels and i love the idea were the levels you get to go to different countries instead of a castle. I will also love to see ranked the other castlevania games like Symphony of the night, Circles of the Moon, dawn of sorrow, and etc Hopefully if you have a chance doing this in next october but anyways Happy Halloween 🧛♂️ 🦇
I hope I have a chance to play more of the exploration-based Castlevania games one of these days. I've tried Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow but haven't tried any of the others in that vein.
Simon's Quest was certainly ambitious for it's time. Some could argue that it was the first proper Metroidvania in the series, long before SOTN. It has a great soundtrack and fantastic atmosphere, but its cryptic nature and poor enemy programming/design always soured it for me. Definitely a game that I appreciate from a distance. Castlevania 1 will always be my favorite in the entire series. There is something special about that first game. Great video!
To me, there's no argument. It's exploration-based, though I don't love the term Metroidvania. I didn't play Metroid or Castlevania for the first time until 2018, so it was meaningless to me until then! I can understand the translation being a problem in a few spots, but with an adult mind, I didn't run into too many troubles. I can see it being way worse as a kid. The first game is really, really good. I come back to it often and enjoy it every time.
I would've loved if you'd covered Haunted Castle (the Arcade Castlevania) and Vampire Killer (the MSX Castlevania), but this is still a fantastic overview of the 8- and 16-bit Vanias.
Why not the X68000 version of Akumajo Dracula? It's literally a remake of the first game (you can also play this as part of Castlevania Chronicles which was released on PSX).
Have you ever tried Infernax? If not, I would highly recommend it! It’s a modern take on those exploration based, platformers of yore such as Simon’s Quest, Faxanadu and Zelda II. The makers kind of went a little overboard with the gore if you ask me, but since you very much enjoyed a Belmont being turned inside out, I think you might not mind. Anyway, love your content!
There is a hack for Simon's Quest that removes the false blocks. It's so annoying to walk around tossing holy water, for me it greatly improves the game to simply have them removed. If that's too much, there's another hack that turns the false blocks grey, so if you are paying attention you can see them. It's hard to go back to the old way!
This is really good to know! I think I'd like to try Simon's Quest with the translation patch sometime now that I've played it the original way. That block vision patch sounds like a fantastic idea too. Thanks for putting it on my radar!
Fantastic video, love to hear a critic talk about her experiences and opinions about a game instead of trying to argue that one thing or another is objectively correct.
Hey thanks so much! These videos take a while to put together since I have to play the games first, of course. I wish I could do more long form videos like this but I'd have to get through games much faster! The Castlevania series is phenomenal for many reasons, but the music is definitely one of the best parts about it for me. Agreed!
So funny thing about that last boss fight with dracula at dracula x. There were no pillars in the p c engine version. That was added just for the s n e s version.
@@hungrygoriya I really hated them in Zelda 2 as well, Like it wasn't enough to have a disappearing bridge over a pit of lava? we needed wavy heads flying at Link too?
I'm a bit late to this, but I am so happy to see Simon's Quest at the top of someone's list instead of the bottom. It is such a great game, given evidence by the fact that the metroidvania formula is just an expansion of what Simon's Quest set up.
I think I'll always be shocked you don't have more than 200k subs with the quality of your content. I love the composite video quality on the NES games. Here's to 200k subs! Upward and onward!
I had a sneaking suspicion that you were going to name CV2 your favorite since you beat it in one sitting (and after beating CV3, it should be noted). That was a very fun stream. (I wasn’t expecting the Secret Ending, but I wasn’t surprised at all, either. 😂)
What an excellent video! I really liked your takes on several of the entries, including Simon's Quest, which I very much agree with. Also, your video compelled me to watch the Netflix series and I've been enjoying it very much, so thank you for that as well :)
Right on! I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed the video. I haven't seen any of the Netflix show since I'm pretty much the only person on earth at this point that has never had Netflix, ever!
I'm not sure what triggers it, but I think it's something along the lines of not hitting him for a turn? I can't recall exactly, but he releases a little ball that you can whip, and out comes a little chicken leg!
Simon's Quest, to this day, only Castlevania I've beaten. The atmosphere really does it for me, capturing the melancholy that I don't feel in other games.
@@hungrygoriya Just as nothing conveying frustration like Castlevania 3. It's such a highly rated game that I've never enjoyed whatsoever. And yes, the game does seem to be trolling the players. Nintendo has a few games like that. Not sure if you've played the original Super Mario 2 (lost levels on SNES), but it's a master class in psychological damage through gaming.
Thanks so much! It was definitely neat learning some new filming tricks, and I tried a few new editing things as well. It's great to keep on trying new stuff with every big project like this! I hope you'll try Simon's Quest again sometime. I really love it, but I understand it's not for everyone. I took a couple of hints here and there and got through most of the rest of it without much trouble. The cryptic hints are at least balanced well with reasonable difficulty.
I'd love to see your opinions on the handful of games in the Classicvania style you skipped over here: Adventure Rebirth (which you did mention but its basically a totally original new game rather than a remake of Adventure), Chronicles (which is yet another remake/imagining of the first Castlevania, having some similarities with Super 4 but also doing a lot of its own original stuff too), Haunted Castle (an arcade game version of the original Castlevania), Vampire Killer (the original Castlevania done more as an adventure game like Simon's Quest and the IGA games are for the MSX), and Legends (the third of the original classic Gameboy games). As for these ratings, I generally agree with them! I'd probably put 3 over Bloodlines and Dracula X myself because I do love that game, but I agree it is downright MEAN a lot of the time and can understand why you'd rate it lower because of that. I'm also glad to see someone else doesn't just praise Rondo as the peak of Classicvania blindly and even has some fair love for Simon's Quest too!
I totally missed your comment here, so sorry for the delayed reply! I'd definitely like to address some of the ones I didn't cover here when I've had the opportunity to play them sometime! Thanks for the suggestions! I'm glad we're mostly in agreement about the ordering of the list! I didn't imagine I'd impress every person with my ranking, but it's heartening to hear that I'm not totally out to lunch with where I put things! Simon's Quest is awesome and I wish more people gave it a chance, or at least saw it for the good in it versus focusing on what they think is bad.
@@hungrygoriya lol it’s ok dw about it Anyway I really wish a more accurate and better translation for CV2 was widely available, a lot of grief for that game comes from how much it just lies to you or is indecipherable. I know there’s a fan patch out there that fixes it but an official retranslating from Konami would help a lot.
I'm surprised to hear how much you dislike Castlevania Belmont's Revenge, especially since you and I share similar sentiments about Castlevania III. For me I found it to be an incredibly enjoyable and well thought out and designed game, taking everything that Adventure has done and making it actually work on the hand held. It's really interesting to see where our opinions differ on this series
I liked Belmont's Revenge, but just not more than the other games that are above it here. It's a good game, but I think it has a different focus from the stuff I really like in my Castlevanias. I've had its music stuck in my head the most since putting out this video, so that's definitely something!
When in doubt, just throw a shit-ton of holy waters at whatevers bothering you...especially in that "terrible hallway." P.S. Rondo of Blood is the pinnacle of the series, with Symphony of the Night a close second.
Totally! If you can hang onto it... that was my struggle the first time through. I needed a bunch of practice! Symphony of the Night is awesome. I didn't include it here because it's so different from everything else on this list, but I loved it too!
Haha, I knew you would talk about Master of Darkness. You couldn’t resist showing love to your Sega Master System. Great video by the way. Thanks for the Palpatine forever memory.
I finally got a chance to sit down and enjoy this from start to finish. SOOOO good. I have not had much luck with Castlevania games, ever since I was a kid. I'm just NOT good at them, at all. But...I still enjoy playing them. I suck at the original, but it's still so much fun. Also...DEW IT... Damn you.
I don't feel like I'm any better at Castlevania than most people. I enjoy the heck out of these games even though I'm not very good at them too! DEW IT! You're welcome.
Hey thanks so much! Not everyone will agree with the ranking of course, but I'm glad to share my feelings on these games. I'm also really excited to try out some of the more recent titles in the series. I've played Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow over and above what I mentioned here, but they didn't really fit with the list since they're so vastly different. Maybe I'll do a part 2 someday with the rest of the games that are similar to one another. Glad you love this series so much! Me too!
@@hungrygoriya Opinions are always gonna be different in some major or minor ways. I personally enjoy hearing peoples point of view for them ;) And yes please, I for one would love to see a part 2! Can never get too much Castlevania talk ;)
C2 Simon's Quest is fantastic. Most people never give it the love that i did. Come on, roaming from castle to castle, collecting Drac's body parts so you can resurrect and kill him?? Awesome! And the best, most atmospheric music of any video game ever.
Nice to see Castlevania 2 get some love. Biggest difference is that I played it quite a bit as a kid.I had to use a game genie to get the good ending though. 😂
I haven't come close to getting the good ending, but I'm fine with that. The slow and steady approach is how I usually make it through most of my games!
